


To Hear You Say My Name

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 17:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13839954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: In the quiet, Karen listened so hard, she could hear her own blood pumping in her ears, and maybe it was the cheap bodega wine but she had a feeling. She had a feeling this wasn't just a wrong number, this wasn't just a butt-dial.





	To Hear You Say My Name

     Karen's phone vibrated a harsh, startling buzz against the wooden coffee table. She loved her job lately but _god_ , she hoped it wasn't work calling, as it buzzed, again. She was fully off-duty, wine in a paper cup, and too tired to deal with conspiracy or bullshit or even a crank fucking phone call.

      _Blocked number._ Lips twitching into a line as her phone rang a third time, answering none of her questions when it did.

     He was about to hang up, at the third ring. It was a bad idea to even be calling, to even be thinking about calling, but her name was back in the papers, because of him. She'd been somebody else's target, because of him; his thumb hovering over the hang-up, he couldn't stop himself from waiting.

     "Hello? This is Page," Karen answered, finally. Decisively.

     Closing his eyes, listening to the dead air between them, Frank realized he had no reason to be calling. No right, not after everything. He found himself half-smiling into the silence anyway, debating what he could even say. Her hello wasn't a big hint at anything- he couldn't tell if she sounded happy or safe or anything he wanted for her. She sounded impatient, maybe; which felt a little familiar.

     In the quiet, Karen listened so hard, she could hear her own blood pumping in her ears, and maybe it was the cheap bodega wine but she had a feeling. She had a feeling this wasn't just a wrong number, this wasn't just a butt-dial.

     "Hello?" She said, again, shifting to the edge of her couch. Eyeing the dead flowers on her window-sill, Karen sighed deep and closed her eyes. "Frank?" She asked, softly.

      _Frank_? He'd heard her, of course he'd heard her, but he didn't answer. Swallowing the obstinate and traitorous lump in his throat, Frank let himself have the silence with her. It was an untraceable line, there was no way she could know it was him. Which complicated everything, because maybe that meant she wanted it to be him. She hoped it was him on the line. Opening his eyes, he realized why he was calling. _Frank_? It echoed in his mind.

    "Goodnight," Karen said, quietly, shaking her head at herself and the caller. Hanging up the call, she threw her phone across the couch like it had burned her fingertips. Bringing her knees to her chest, she wondered if he'd call back; if her phone would ring again any second. But she'd wondered if he'd pop back into her life for weeks now, and he hadn't.

      _Frank_? He remembered it, the sound of it; his name from her lips, her voice. Dropping the phone from his ear, Frank pulled his hood down against the wind, feeling more himself than he had in weeks.


End file.
